Posts Tagged ‘cease-fire’
UN in Sri Lanka Admits 400 Killed, No Word from Ban Ki-moon on Visit
[ Inner City Press ] In Colombo, UN spokesman Gordon Weiss has acknowledged that at least 400 civilians were killed over the weekend in northern Sri Lanka. Weiss claimed that Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has been doing everything possible. But when asked, repeatedly, if he was calling for a cease-fire, Ban Ki-moon did not. Ban…
Read MoreOn Sri Lanka, UN Speak of Siege, Calls Cease-Fire Unrealistic, Only Private Diplomacy
[ Inner City Press ] As military action recommences in northern Sri Lanka, the UN’s top humanitarian John Holmes on Wednesday repeated government assurances that it would be in “siege mode.” Inner City Press asked Holmes, given his estimate of 100,000 civilians trapped in 17 square kilometers, if the UN is asking for a cease-fire.…
Read MoreSri Lankan Government Rejects Rebel Appeal For Truce
[VoA] In Sri Lanka, the government has rejected an appeal by the European Union for a cease-fire with Tamil Tiger rebels. Intense fighting is under way in the northeast, where the military is trying to capture the last strip of territory held by the rebels. The government’s outright rejection for a truce with Tamil Tiger…
Read MoreUK names former defence secretary as Sri Lanka envoy
[Reuters] Britain named a special envoy to Sri Lanka Thursday to try to ease hardship caused by the country’s long-running civil war and to help in the search for a political solution. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the priorities were to achieve a cease-fire and to get a political settlement in Sri Lanka, where tens…
Read MoreUN: 250K civilians facing food crisis in Sri Lanka
[AP] The United Nations warned that civilians caught in the shrinking sliver of territory still controlled by the rebels are facing a massive food crisis, and convoys may not be able to deliver supplies until late next week. Concern for the fate of civilians – hundreds of whom observers say have died in the latest…
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